Does Carpet Cleaning Kill Dust Mites

Top 10 facts about dust and dust mites in carpet.
Does carpet cleaning kill dust mites. The number of live mites was monitored for a period of 4 months in eight treated carpet squares and eight controls. Such a temperature kills dust mite instantly. A steam cleaner or steam mop can be one of your best arsenals against dust mites. A study in glasgow scotland found an 87 percent drop in the concentration of dust mites per gram of dust after carpets were steam cleaned.
Steam clean carpets and rugs on a regular basis. Steam cleaners can be rented or purchased at hardware and home improvement stores. Adding dust mites powder during vacuuming helps to neutralize the deep hidden pests. The growth and population of the dust mite can be considerably lessened by regularly cleaning your carpets with a steam cleaner.
Steam cleaning as dust mite control. The steam cleaning also naturally disinfects by killing bacteria and mould spores. Dust samples were taken from 12 standardized areas of carpet in a tenement flat in glasgow uk before and after steam cleaning treatment and the concentration of allergen der p 1 was compared with 12 adjacent control areas. This is done through a professional or do it yourself steam cleaning.
If you have bedding that cannot be washed steam cleaning is all natural and better than dry cleaning. Steam will also kill dust mites. Dust mites are destroyed easily in heat that goes above 131 f 55 c. When choosing a steam mop ensure that it is designed to clean carpet surfaces.
Also steam clean chairs sofas couches and carpets. Factors like suction power deep cleaning capability and thickness of the carpet may result in some dust mites surviving the process. Dust mites like to eat dead skin from pets and humans. The reason why dust mites are so prevalent in people s homes is that they feed off of dead skin cells.
The average person can shed enough skin a day to feed a million dust mites. Males dust mites can live over a month while female dust mites can live up to 90 days. Both steam cleaning and dry cleaning will take care of surface soil but dry cleaning will not kill dust mites. The steam vapor produced by a steam mop easily goes above 212 f.
The heat of the water used in steam cleaning is often high enough to kill dust mites and can be hotter than the temperatures used in washing machines and dryers which are advised to be used to kill dust mites in fabrics. Up to 2000 dust mites can live on one ounce of carpet. Steam will kill any existing dust mites without the use of chemicals. However vacuuming has various degree of success in removing dust mites from the carpet.
The allergen dust mites carry is in their feces and body fragments. Clean the carpets thoroughly at least once a year.